Fayette County mother convicted of killing 2-year-old stepson
Jury finds woman guilty of third-degree murder
A jury has found a Fayette County woman guilty of third-degree murder for killing her 2-year-old son.
Brianna Bloyer, 32, of Lake Lynn, allegedly abused Bentlee Myers over a period of several weeks before his death on Aug. 19, 2024.
Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele said a jury deliberated for close to three hours between Wednesday and Thursday.
Bloyer had been charged with first-degree murder in the case, though the jury had the option of considering lesser offenses.
鈥淲e鈥檙e pleased with the verdict,鈥� Aubele said. 鈥淥f course, we were hoping to prove first-degree murder, but the jury obviously felt that we didn鈥檛 meet our burden when it came to premeditation. But it鈥檚 still going to, I believe, adequately punish her for what happened in this case.鈥�
Gregory Kunkel, an assistant public defender in Fayette County, thanked the jury for the verdict.
鈥淲e鈥檙e grateful that the jury clearly recognized that this was not a case of first-degree murder,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e respect the jury鈥檚 service and plan to carefully review several of the legal objections that the defense raised during trial.鈥�
The child鈥檚 father, Brent Bissett, cooperated with the prosecution and pleaded to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter Thursday morning, receiving a sentence to four to eight years in prison, Aubele said. He knew of Bloyer鈥檚 abuse, but was not at the house on the day of the murder, Aubele said.
A Head Start teacher who had come to the home for an appointment arrived to find Bloyer upset over the condition of Bentlee, who she said had hit his head on a coffee table, the teacher testified at Bloyer鈥檚 preliminary hearing. Emergency responders testified Bentlee was not breathing and his face appeared blue.
After the Head Start teacher called 911, Bentlee was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., where he was declared dead three days later.
A coroner determined Bentlee鈥檚 cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head. At trial, prosecutors presented evidence of a series of injuries through cuts and bruises in various stages of healing, Aubele said in a statement Thursday.
State police testified at Bloyer鈥檚 preliminary hearing she had admitted to becoming angry at Bentlee and throwing him from the kitchen area to the living room, at which point she heard a thud.
She had also made several searches online seemingly indicating injuries in the days before the head injury, such as 鈥渨hat better to make bruises fade overnight,鈥� according to court testimony.
Bloyer will be sentenced on Aug. 27. Aubele said he plans to ask for the maximum possible sentence, which is 20 to 40 years.
Kunkel said depending on the outcome of the pre-sentence investigation, the defense could revisit grounds for appeal at the time of sentencing.
The defense had raised numerous issues at trial, Kunkel said, including technical legal objections to certain evidence and testimony, and issues surrounding jurors and spectators in the courtroom that he said could have affected the outcome.